Shadows of Glass (16 page)

“It was,” I confess. “I didn’t know not to look at it. I was blinded for an entire
day.”

“Of course you were,” Dr. Stewart responds. “You are lucky you recovered so quickly,
but it may be a result of your eyes’ ability to adapt. Do all your friends have eyes
like yours?”

“All but one,” I say. “He was from above.”

“Ah, the young man you mentioned who was instrumental in finding out the truth about
your friend’s death. Since he lived above, his eyes would not be as sensitive or adaptable.
I have a way to solve your problem with the sun. I have developed amber paint that
we put on our spectacles to protect the eyes. I could put some on your goggles and
you’d be all set.”

“That would be wonderful,” I say. “I have to admit I am terrified of it happening
again.”

“As we all would be,” Zan says.

“I know I would,” Levi adds. “It must have been frightening.”

“It was,” I say, recalling those moments in the cave when I thought I was abandoned.
Levi smiles at me from across the table. “You are terribly brave you know.” I look
down at my plate in shame and confusion. He is the second person to tell me so in
the past few hours, and I know in my heart I am undeserving of such praise. And I
don’t have the courage to tell him why so I change the subject.

“You say you’ve been all over the dome twice?” I ask Lyon. “When? How did you even
know of it?”

“I came here many years ago with my father. He was an explorer, like me. We arrived
here last week. When I informed Dr. Stewart of our discovery all those years ago he
insisted on seeing it himself. We set sail from St. Louis more than a month ago.”

“I think I saw you,” I said. “Every morning I would go to the rooftops and watch the
light come to the dome. A week ago I saw a shadow cross over and wondered what it
was.”

“It was probably me wearing the glider,” Levi says. “I landed on top looking for a
way in and took off again. It’s rather amazing how thick the glass is. And how milky.”

“I have a theory on that,” Dr. Stewart says. “I believe the heat from the comet accelerated
the hardening of the glass. Or it might be that the original builders figured the
heat into the formula to help protect the people within. Whoever they were, they were
years ahead in their technology. I certainly hope they saved their records.”

“Getting in to see them will be the hardest part,” I say. “Sir Meredith is determined
to protect the royals at all cost.”

“We are certainly not a threat,” Dr. Stewart protests.

“Oh but we are,” Lyon says with his eyes on me.

“Proof that the outside is safe is contrary to what those inside have been told to
believe,” I say. “Everyone’s purpose is to serve the royals. Without service, their
way of life will change.” I stop to consider my words. “It already has changed. They
no longer have coal, they no longer have the fans…”

“They don’t need either with the large holes in the roof,” Zan contributes.

“My … Sir Meredith will still use fear to control the population,” I say. “There are
other people here. People with weapons like yours. Our world does not have such weapons.
There is nothing to keep the rovers, the people on the outside, from taking what they
want from the rest of us.”

“Except the dome,” Lyon concludes.

“Wait, you mean guns?” Levi asks. “Guns were certainly around before the time of the
dome. For a couple of hundred years before.”

“Why would they need such things inside?” Lyon says. “They left them out to keep the
peace. To keep the people from rebelling.”

I see the wisdom of his words. “And it worked,” I said.

“Until you came along.” Levi’s warm brown eyes are on me. Measuring me.

“No,” I protest. “It was all of us.”

“Did anyone else watch the dome from the rooftops?” Levi proclaims. “You were the
one who was there when your friend was burned. You are the one who heard his last
words.”

I cannot deny it, yet I do not claim it. There are too many things to regret. Too
many things that I’ve done wrong.

“I should get back to my friends,” I say. “They will be worried about me.”

“I’ll arrange for an escort,” Lyon says. “I am certain Jane will not rest until she
makes sure your children are cared for. Where are you staying?”

“We found shelter from the rain in the foundation of an old house,” I say. “Beyond
that I do not know what there is.”

“Ruins?” Dr. Stewart exclaims. “I shall have to examine them also.”

“I am certain everything so close to the dome has been picked over,” Lyon says.

“Everything was destroyed by the fire,” I say. “There is nothing there.”

“Oh you’d be surprised at the treasures Dr. Stewart has found,” Zan says.

“Treasures?” I ask.

“We are treasure hunters,” Levi explains. “We search for artifacts from the before
time. Some are underwater now, some were simply abandoned, and others were preserved.
Some we simply photograph.”

“Photograph?” I ask again.

Levi gets up from the table and retrieves a frame from a bookcase. He hands it to
me. It is like a small painting, only much more detailed even though the colors are
faded. It is of a younger version of Levi standing with an elderly woman with gray-streaked
black hair that hangs to her waist. She has feathers wrapped in her hair and is wearing
a long hide dress covered with fringe and beads. They stand in front of a small dome
made out of wood and a pieced-together canvas. “This is a photograph,” Levi explains.
“The image is created with light and various chemicals. It creates a permanent record
of the subject.”

“Outstanding,” I say, totally amazed at what I’ve seen and recalling the way he said
it earlier.

“I imagine there are quite a few artifacts inside the dome,” Dr. Stewart says. “If
they went to all the trouble to preserve the bloodline, then surely they preserved
the historical artifacts also.”

I recall the things I saw in my father’s office. The exquisite paintings and the beautifully
carved furniture along with the things I had seen in the library when I was a child.
“We have a library and a museum, but the shiners were only allowed in the library
one time a year and never in the museum.”

“A library!” Dr. Stewart exclaims. “Excellent!”

“Don’t get too excited Jethro,” Lyon warns. “First we have to get into the dome.”

Back into the dome is not a place I want to go. And I’ve been gone long enough. “I
really should be going now,” I say. I fold my napkin, as I’d seen the others do, and
rise from my seat.

“I’ll go with you,” Levi says. “To make sure you don’t run into those rovers.”

“Me too,” Zan says. “To keep you safe too, cousin,” she says with a mischievous grin.

“We might as well all go,” Lyon announces.

“Then make your selves useful and carry something,” Jane says as she comes back into
the room from the back. “I’ve got food, blankets, and medicines if needed.” She looks
at me. “Is anyone injured?”

I think for a moment. “No … but Peter has a horrible cough.”

“Then hopefully we can help him,” Jane says. She grabs a coat from a hook on the wall
and puts it on, which signals the rest to get ready too.

I slip outside while they gather their things. The guards are still there, back on
the catwalk where they originally were, and I realize Lyon must have moved them away
when I came aboard for my comfort. The moon has traveled also. Where before it was
behind the dome, now it hangs closer to where I committed my crime, as if it is a
beacon telling all that a body lies here and something must be done about it.

I fooled myself thinking that whiling away the hours with the American treasure hunters
would make things easier, or make the situation go away. It is still there for me
to deal with, the body and the repercussions.

Several baskets sit on the catwalk. The resources that the airship has amaze me. To
have so many things at your disposal, so many luxuries that you can share so generously,
is beyond my comprehension.

“It has turned into a beautiful night,” Levi says as he joins me on the catwalk. “We
had to stay out at sea when the storm came in. I thought it would never end.” He puts
on a brown leather vest over his shirt and he wears a belt strapped low around his
hip, with a smaller gun than the ones the men carry in a leather holder that is strapped
down to his thigh. A knife is in a similar array on his opposite hip. A pair of glasses
with dark lenses sits on top of his head. Bella is with him, and she sits at the edge
of the catwalk and stares off into the darkness.

“It is beautiful,” I admit. “I had always known about the moon and the stars, but
to actually see them…”

“There’s a saying we use,” Levi says. “Seeing is believing. Of course I never would
have believed there was an entire society inside that thing until I met you.”

“I could be lying,” I say, because the way he stands so close to me is frightening
in a way that has nothing to do with fear.

“It’s too outrageous to be made up,” he says with a wide smile.

“As are you,” I return. “If I did not take you with me, my friends would never believe
me.” I do not add that James certainly would not. He did not believe me about Alex,
and he was able to turn everyone against me. Would he do the same when I showed up
with the Hatfields and their gifts of food and supplies?

“What were you doing wandering around at night by yourself?” Levi asks.

“I am used to being up at night,” I say. “My shift was in the nighttime. It is hard
to get my body used to anything else.”

“So you decided to wander about and explore in the dark all by yourself? What about
your friends, what are they up to?”

“Some are asleep,” I say. “The others are exploring a tunnel that was found in the
foundation. They think it leads back into the dome.”

“And you have no desire to go inside,” Levi says with a laugh.

I nod and grin, relieved that I no longer have to explain about what I was doing before
I met them. The rest of the group come out. Lyon has two belts strapped across his
chest with small guns, like the one Levi carries, stuck in leather holders. Several
small loops cover the belts, and they are filled with small cylinders that have to
be the ammunition for the guns. He also carries a long gun, like the guards, and has
two long blades in leather belts. Zan wears a gun also, similar to Levi’s, and has
her glorious hair stuffed up inside a cap. Dr. Stewart has added a large leather bag
that is placed crossways over his body so that the bag rests on his hip. Jane wears
a hat and short jacket and has a bag similar to Dr. Stewart’s.

“Lead on,” Lyon says. “We are at your disposal.” Everyone picks up a basket and we
go as Lyon and Dr. Stewart shine beacons before us.

We walk into the tall grass with Bella bounding ahead. Occasionally she puts her head
down and sniffs the ground and at other times she raises it up and tests the wind.
Is she searching for Beau? Or does she sense the blood on my hands and on the ground
up ahead? I make sure we go away from the scene of my crime and toward the dome where
my friends hopefully have not noticed I am gone.

Lyon walks on one side of me and Levi on the other. I stumble over a cobblestone and
Levi quickly catches me before I fall and then releases my arm with a smile when I
assure him I am fine. I have never been treated with such eloquence and politeness
in my life. For someone of my station to have such kindness and willingness to help
bestowed upon me is flattering, yet humbling. “You are too generous,” I say. “Won’t
this deplete your supplies for your trip back to America?”

“We resupply as we go,” Jane says. “And we have quite a few things in ice storage.”

“Ice storage?” I ask.

“It is a way of keeping things cold and therefore fresh for extended periods of time,”
Zan says. “It was all Dr. Stewart’s idea.”

“It was quite simple really,” Dr. Stewart says. “I just use the ice to keep the ice
frozen. It’s like an eternal circle of success.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what ice is,” I say.

“Of course you wouldn’t!” Dr. Stewart exclaims. “Your temperatures more than likely
remained constant because of the fans and the heat from the steam engines. Quite ingenious
really.”

While his answer makes sense it still doesn’t explain to me what ice is and Levi quickly
realizes it. “Ice is water that becomes hard and extremely cold from frigid temperatures,”
he explains. “Remember when we said the polar ice caps melted and the sea levels rose?
That is because all the water that was once frozen melted and ran into the sea. The
earth finally righted itself and we have the seasons again, winter, spring, summer,
and fall. Ice comes about in the winter. We harvested it and saved it and use it to
keep our food fresh.”

“Amazing,” I say, thinking of Adam’s speech. “To every thing there is a season, and
a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

We have crossed the grass by this time and moved into the park. It did not take long
for Dr. Stewart to realize that we were walking on former streets around destroyed
houses and into a park. “I really must take samples and collect seeds,” he says. “Some
of these species I’ve never seen before.”

“Wouldn’t that be better done in the daytime?” Jane suggests.

The wind rustles through the trees and I hear a familiar chirp. At the same time,
Bella takes off with a bark at a run.

“Bella!” Zan calls out. “Come back!”

“She must smell Beau,” Jane says. Lyon and Dr. Stewart shine their beacons in the
direction Bella goes. There is nothing there but long shadows cast by the trees.

“It’s the right direction,” I say. I hear the chirp again. It isn’t Pip, but it is
the whistle that James, Adam, and Alcide use in the tunnels. I look up and see Alcide
up on a tree branch right above Lyon. Before I can open my mouth he drops, along with
James, Adam, and Pace, onto Lyon, Levi, Dr. Stewart, and Zan.

“Run, Wren, run!” Pace yells as he jumps on Levi.